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Santo Trafficante, Jr.
Santo Trafficante, Jr. (November 15, 1914 - March 17, 1987) also known as "Louie Santos", was one of the last old-time Mafia bosses in the United States. He controlled organized criminal operations in all of Florida, which had previously been consolidated his power and reach throughout several Major City's all over the United States of America. Santo Trafficante, Jr. is reckoned as one of the most powerful and richest mafia bosses of all time. val gangs by his father, Santo Trafficante, Sr. He was reputedly the most powerful mafioso in Batista-era Cuba. Trafficante maintained links to the Bonanno crime family, in New York City, but was more closely allied with Sam Giancana, in Chicago. Throughout his reign as the boss of the Tampa based Trafficante crime family, he was not believed to have total control over Miami, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, Florida. The east coast of Florida was a loosely knit conglomerate of New York family interests with obvious links to Meyer Lansky, Benjamin Siegel, Carlos Marcello, Leo Stein and Frank Ragano. To this day, control of Florida by organized crime is likely divided between Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and international organized crime interests. The Trafficante family was also credited for creating the language known in the old mafia days as "Tampan", which was a language of an Italian/Spanish dialect. It was spoken by the Mob mainly because the police could not understand the language. Santo Trafficante, Jr. was one of the most powerful and richest men in the world, he was also one of the most powerful, influential, richest and dangerous crime bosses in the world, and at the height of his power, Santo Trafficante, Jr. ruled all of Florida with an iron fist, he had Police, Judges, District Attorneys, U.S. Attorneys, Senators, Congressman, Councilman, Assemblyman, IRS Agents, EPA Agents, FBI Agents, CIA Agents, Mayors and Governors in his pocket. Biography Santo Trafficante Jr. was born in Tampa, Florida to Sicilian parents Santo Trafficante, Sr. and his wife Maria Giuseppa Cacciatore in 1914. He maintained several houses in Tampa and Miami, and also frequented Havana, Cuba (while Fulgencio Batista was in power), and New York City. Treasury Department documents indicate that law enforcement believed Trafficante's legitimate business interests to include several legal casinos in Cuba; a Havana drive-in movie theater; and shares in the Columbia Restaurant and several other restaurants and bars in Tampa. He was rumored to be part of a Mafia syndicate which owned many other Cuban hotels and casinos. As one of the most powerful mobsters in the U.S., Trafficante was invited to the Havana Conference in December, 1946. Many of Trafficante's brothers also became heavily involved in the Tampa crime family, including prominent soldier and heir apparent, Henry Trafficante. Trafficante was arrested frequently throughout the 1950s on various charges of bribery and of running illegal bolita lotteries in Tampa's Ybor City district. He escaped conviction all but once, receiving a five-year sentence, in 1954, for bribery, but his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court before he entered prison. In 1955, he was suspected of ordering the brutal murder of former Tampa crime boss Charlie Wall. In 1957, Trafficante was arrested, along with 56 other mobsters, at an apparent underworld convention, the Apalachin Meeting in upstate New York. Charges were later dropped, though authorities believe the meeting was set up, among other things, to fill the power vacuum created by the recent assassination of Murder, Inc. head Albert Anastasia. Trafficante later denied knowledge of the circumstances of Anastasia's death. Castro and JFK Assassination Plots After Fidel Castro's revolutionary government seized the assets of Trafficante's Cuban businesses and expelled him from the country as an "undesirable alien", Trafficante came into contact with various U.S. intelligence operatives, and was involved in several unsuccessful plans to assassinate Castro. Allusions to these historic connections were confirmed by the Central Intelligence Agency's 2007 declassification of the "Family Jewels" documents. Suspicions that Trafficante, along with Carlos Marcello, mob boss of the New Orleans crime family in the 1950s and '60s, Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, and Chicago boss Sam Giancana, were involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination have been alleged repeatedly but have not been proven, However, Santo Trafficante, Jr., Frank Sheeran and Carlos Marcello made a deathbed confession about the JFK assassination, they all stated that "The JFK assassination was a mafia hit." Trafficante was summoned to court in 1986 and questioned about his involvement with the King's Court nightclub operated by members of the Bonanno crime family from New York, including undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone, alias, "Donnie Brasco". Trafficante again escaped conviction. A big fan of greyhound racing, Trafficante would have his driver stop right in front of the now defunct newsstand in Britton Plaza, (Tampa) where Mr. Trafficante would emerge from the rear car door, enter, pick up his reserved copy of the racing form, drop $2 on the counter, then nod his thanks to the clerk and climb in the backseat into his car. Death Trafficante's health had declined in his older years, and he died in Houston, Texas, where he had gone for heart surgery, in 1987. He was reportedly succeeded as boss of the Tampa crime family by Vincent LoScalzo. Category:Bosses Category:Trafficante crime family Category:Florida Mobsters Category:Tampa, Florida mobsters